The festival is curated by jazz singer Claire Martin and saxophonist Julian Nicholas, both Sussex residents – and Claire is delighted at the way it has established itself so quickly and developed so rapidly.

“This is our third, and it is slightly different in that we have got the three venues rather than one. “

They launched it all with a party before Christmas at the Old Market.

“All the performers are main performers, but the Ropetackle has stayed the original place for us. The extension at The Verdict has allowed us to put an arm and an umbrella around some of the more local talent.

“It went very well for the first two years and we just decided to become bigger and to show the Arts Council that we could be trusted with a little bit more budget, which meant filling out more and more agonising forms! But they went for it, seeing that some of the people in Brighton couldn’t get to Shoreham and that some of the people in Shoreham couldn’t get to Brighton.

“I think it has gone so well because of good marketing and good programming, the fact that we were getting people that were appealing across the board.

“And it is also the fact that there is a terrific following for jazz across Sussex – and that there was really not a lot happening at the end of January which made it a good time to try to do something.”

Tickets and full details about the festival on www.southcoastjazzfestival.com.

Don't miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you'll be amongst the first to know what's going on.

1) Make our website your homepage

2) Like our Facebook page

3) Follow us on Twitter

4) Register with us by clicking on 'sign in' (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.